Conventional flush toilets are typically supplied water through a line from a manually available shutoff valve located from 0.5 to 2 feet from the entry of the line into the physical boundary of the toilet tank. The line typically has pressure fittings just above the valve and adjacent the point of connection near the toilet tank.
Pressure fittings are subject to leakage if not properly and precisely “made up”. This involves correct fitting, orientation and seating of a flared end of a tube over the fitting followed by correct positioning of a locking nut, with tightening of the locking nut to evenly force the flared end of the tube onto the fitting. Putty or other sealant is typically used upon any connection, either an original connection or a re-connection of an existing line.
Once “made up” or connected, the fitting assemblies can be somewhat sensitive to movement. The fitting assemblies which have been connected the longest are more sensitive to movement, at least partially due to the drying and aging of the sealant. From the water inlet valve typically having a line and fitting assembly a tubular line extends upward to a lower fitting on a conventional toilet fill valve which may be either low profile or conventional float type.
A toilet fill valve is a valve which automatically shuts off to prevent further filling of a toilet tank when the water level reaches a predetermined shut off level. Conventional toilet fill valves, including those which operate by pressure as well as those which operate with a float, typically carry an enlarged threaded member which extends through a hole in the bottom of the tank and which is secured by an external washer. The external washer fixes the orientation and stability of the conventional toilet fill valve.
The orientation and stability fixation must also be accomplished along with enough downward force on the larger threaded through member to securely pull the conventional toilet fill valve sufficiently down to form a seal, with an enlarged portion carrying a seal, against that portion of the inside of the tank surrounding the opening.
Fluid access to the inside of the conventional toilet fill valve is by one of two possible avenues. First, an enlarged nut over fitting can be used to transition the relatively smaller diameter water line to the larger diameter threaded member which extended through the hole in the bottom of the toilet tank. In the alternative, a smaller fitting may be supplied concentrically within the diameter footprint of the conventional toilet fill valve lower fitting as a second fitting for attachment to the other end of the line from the line connected adjacent the shut-off valve with a standard sized nut. In yet other instances, the conventional toilet fill valve may be supplied with an integral line for connection adjacent the shut-off valve. Where an integral line is supplied it may be molded directly into the fitting and simply extend through the larger diameter fitting of the conventional toilet fill valve which then only need be secured with the over fitting nut.
In the first two cases above, the large threaded member is deliberately made of significantly long length to insure that enough linear downward distance is provided to traverse the thickness of the tank at the tank opening, provide enough linear distance to fit the conventional toilet fill valve securing over fitting nut, and still enough left over to accommodate an over fitting nut for securing the inlet water flow line.
As a result, manufacturers of the conventional toilet fill valve assemblies provide much longer than needed downwardly directed fittings. The result of having different types of conventional toilet fill valves with different length lower fittings is that there is a good chance that on replacement that the original water supply line will be either too short or too long for the replacement unit. Where the original water supply line is too short, it must be replaced with a longer one for which care must be taken not to bend the tube to the extent that it kinks. Where the original water supply line is too short, a new longer one must be supplied for which care must be taken not to bend the tube to the extent that it kinks.
In both cases of the conventional toilet fill valve, the step of securing it to the tank followed by securing the line connection from the shut off valve to the conventional toilet fill valve is challenging and time consuming. Where the replacement is of a different type, as for example a conventional toilet fill valve with an integral line being replaced by a conventional toilet fill valve with a fitting, a new line must be re-installed in any event.
Conventional toilet fill valves have assumed a configuration in which the main connection is between the manual water shutoff and the conventional toilet fill valve, with the conventional toilet fill valve secondarily mechanically located through an aperture in the bottom of a toilet tank. The secondary manual connection will often “fight” with the main fluid flow connection.
As a result the user has to worry both about the integrity of a water connection at two points, as well as the physical location of the conventional toilet fill valve by virtue of its position in the tank. Further, the conventional toilet fill valve must seal within the tank, which requires achieving a vertical height necessary to insure adequate sealing. Some seals are larger and softer and require more vertical movement to seal, while others are smaller, require less vertical movement, but may require a stabilization nut of longer axial length (thus occupying more of the downwardly extending fitting). The result of this geometry and system is that it is complicated and tedious to install initially, and complicated, tedious and frustrating to install under replacement conditions.
Under replacement conditions, the same conventional toilet fill valve may not be available. If a conventional toilet fill valve of exact dimension is available, a user will not have to replace the toilet fill supply line by breaking the connections at both the top and the bottom (near the manual shut off valve), but only at the top. However, if the toilet fill supply line is moved by shifting it, the bottom fitting may internally break its seal and have to be broken down, re sealed and made up again. As before, in some cases removal of the conventional toilet fill valve mandates removal of the toilet fill supply line.
Regardless of whether the conventional toilet fill valve has an integral or attached toilet fill supply line, removal of the conventional toilet fill valve from the bottom of the toilet tank necessitates breaking the seal at the access hole. As a result, at least two, and possibly three seals will be broken each time that a conventional toilet fill valve is to be replaced.
Thus, every replacement re-installation of a conventional toilet fill valve risks the integrity of every fluid and mechanical connection above the manual shut-off valve. Further, since a given toilet tank will not be replaced very often, possibly only every twenty or thirty years, and since a conventional toilet fill valve may need replacement every two years or so, the real or potential breakdown of all of the fluid and mechanical connections between the manual cut-off valve and the conventional toilet fill valve makes any replacement work extremely difficult.
What is therefore needed is a system which is enabled to accomplish several valuable objectives during the conventional toilet fill valve replacement operation. First, the risk of integrity of the fluid fittings at the manual cut off, and at the junction between the water supply line and the conventional toilet fill valve lower fitting should be eliminated. Second, the mechanical seal between the fluid lines and fittings extending inside of the tank and the water tank around the entrance hole should not be compromised. Third, the time required to change a defective conventional toilet fill valve should be extremely reduced. Fourth, all of the aforementioned three advantages should be achievable while using a conventional toilet fill valve in order to facilitate a wider number of solutions as well as to avoid an overly complicated customized solution which is incompatible with existing components.
Because the above complexity, the possibility that damage will occur because of movement to the supply channel and in possibly breaking and making up from two to three fluid connections, a plumber is generally necessary for replacing a conventional toilet fill valve. Many attempts at replacing a conventional toilet fill valve result in the necessity for employing a plumber to finish the job even where it was not initially intended to involve a plumber.